Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program
Tory Burch Foundation
$2,000 education grant + a year-long fellowship
Researched for this program: 5 rejection traps · 4 required documentsWhat decides this award ↓
Annual fellowship for women founders with $75K+ revenue
Annual fellowship for women entrepreneurs generating at least $75,000 annually. The 2027 class of about 160 Fellows receives business education, peer network access with hundreds of alumni entrepreneurs, coaching from business experts, and financial resources. Application window: September–November for announcements in May of the following year.
- Funding type
- Program
- Level
- Foundation
- Amount
- A $2,000 education grant, plus additional financial support and access to capital, business education, coaching and a peer network (Tory Burch Foundation fellowship FAQ).
- Realistic amount
- A $2,000 education grant plus the year-long program (coaching, advisors, peer network), per the Fellows FAQ
- Deadline
- Annual: the 2027 cohort application opened September 22, 2026 and closes November 17, 2026. Fellows are announced in May 2027.
- Status
- active
- States
- Nationwide
- Payment model
- lump sum
Who qualifies
- Woman entrepreneur who owns the largest stake in the business
- 21 years or older
- English proficient
- US legal resident
- For-profit business in any industry
- Majority-owned and controlled by women (51%+)
- Generating minimum $75,000 annually
- Business formed and operating in the United States
Hard requirements
- Women ownership required
- Demographic eligibility: women-owned
- Minimum $75,000 annual revenue
Is the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows legit?
Yes. The Tory Burch Foundation runs the program, it is free to apply, and Fellows get a $2,000 education grant plus access to capital.
- Who runs it: The Tory Burch Foundation
- Cost to apply: Free
- What Fellows get: A $2,000 education grant, plus further financial support and access to capital
Sources: toryburchfoundation.org · page 2. Last checked at the funder on October 18, 2026.
Past Tory Burch Foundation Fellows winners
Fellows the foundation spotlights:
- Helya Mohammadian, Slick Chicks · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
- Dilan Gomih, Dilagence · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
- Amrita Bhasin, Sotira · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
- Maritza Abreu, Pisqueya · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
- Joann Jen, Topi Ventures · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
- Payton Turner, Flat Vernacular · Listed under "Spotlight on Fellows" (cohort year not published)
Names as published by the Tory Burch Foundation (source). GrantCompass is not affiliated with the Tory Burch Foundation.
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What the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program application asks
The Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program application asks eight written questions, alongside your contact and business details. There is no entry fee. The deadline is November 17, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, and you submit on the funder’s own form at fellows.toryburchfoundation.org. These are the questions as they appear on the form:
-
1
Tell us about your company. What is your traction to date (customers, revenue, partnerships, or milestones) and what does success look like for your business in the next 1–3 years?
Form limit: 250 words
-
2
What is your business model? How does your business generate revenue? What is your path to profitability?
Form limit: 200 words
-
3
What is the size and growth of your market opportunity? Who is your target customer and how do you reach and grow your customer base?
Form limit: 200 words
-
4
How do you set yourself apart from competitors in your industry?
Form limit: 200 words
-
5
What is your long-term vision for your business? What are your goals for growth/scale?
Form limit: 200 words
-
6
Tell us about yourself and the why behind your business
Form limit: 200 words
-
7
Share a moment in your entrepreneurial journey when you faced a major challenge or setback. How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience?
Form limit: 200 words
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8
Why do you want to be a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow? What do you hope to gain as an entrepreneur? How would you participate in our community?
Form limit: 200 words
What the judges look for
- Positive, lasting impact from the business
- What sets the business apart
- The problem it solves
- Your passion and the obstacles you've overcome
- Real traction and room to grow
- Specific, substantive answers
GrantCompass drafts the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program application from your own answers. You answer four short questions about your business and we write all eight answers around what the judges look for, to fit the form. We use only what you tell us: nothing is invented, and anything a stronger answer needs is left as a marked blank for you to fill. The preview is free with no card. The full draft is $9, refunded in full within 7 days if it doesn’t make your application stronger. You review it and submit it yourself; GrantCompass is independent and not affiliated with the Tory Burch Foundation. Start a free draft on this page (grantcompass.co/grants/tory-burch-foundation-fellows), or read how the drafting works.
How to answer the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows application questions (with examples)
The written part of the 2027 Fellows application is eight short answers: five about your business, then three personal statements. Every box sets a word range, not only a cap: 150 to 250 words for the first, 100 to 200 for the vision question, 50 to 200 for the other six. The Terms and Conditions say a committee picks Fellows on three things: “Personal and Company Statements,” “The Video Introduction” and “Corporate Social Responsibility.” Its list of factors lines up with the boxes: “applicant’s growth opportunities” (Questions 1, 3 and 5), “what unique factors differentiate applicant’s business” (Question 4), “how applicant’s business reflects her passion” (Question 6) and “what obstacles applicant has overcome” (Question 7).
These are the questions for businesses under $1 million in revenue (larger businesses get six different ones), and every example comes from one made-up business.
Q1 · Your Company Today · 150–250 words“Tell us about your company. What is your traction to date (customers, revenue, partnerships, or milestones) and what does success look like for your business in the next 1–3 years?”
- 1
Say what you sell, to whom, and since when. Then prove traction in numbers.
- 2
Put success in 1–3 years in numbers, then say what it changes for customers.
“We make safety-toe work boots and coveralls designed for women in the construction trades. I was a union electrician for twelve years, and I launched the company online in 2021 because nothing on the market fit the women I worked with.
About 3,900 tradeswomen have bought from us, and 41% have come back for a second order. Fourteen union apprenticeship programs and nine contractors now buy starter kits for their crews, which brought in 35% of last year’s sales. Revenue grew from $142,000 in 2023 to $236,000 in 2024 and $384,000 in 2025, and 2025 was our first profitable year. This year a national electrical contractor began outfitting its women field crews in three states with our kit. We are a team of six, counting me.
Success in one to three years means $1 million in revenue, 60 programs and contractors buying kits every year, an insulated winter boot, and our own small warehouse. For the women we serve, it means that on her first day an apprentice gets boots that fit and gear she can climb in, and nobody tells her to stuff a men’s boot with socks.”
Why it works: every claim of traction is a number, and success is something you could measure in three years.
Q2 · Business Model · 50–200 words“What is your business model? How does your business generate revenue? What is your path to profitability?”
- 1
Say who pays, for what, how often and at roughly what price. Give your revenue split.
- 2
Name the two or three changes that make profit steady.
Show the made-up example 132 words
“We earn money two ways. Individual tradeswomen buy from our website, mostly boots at about $165 a pair and coveralls at about $120. That was 65% of revenue last year, and most buyers replace their boots every 12 to 18 months. Apprenticeship programs and contractors make up the other 35%, buying starter kits by purchase order once or twice a year at 20% off list.
Online sales earn a 52% gross margin and group orders 38%. We turned our first profit in 2025, a net margin of about 6%.
Three things make that profit steady. Orders of 1,000 pairs or more cut our factory cost per pair by about 12%. Group contracts let us buy stock ahead of demand. And our fit guide has cut returns from 14% to 6% of orders.”
Why it works: it answers all three questions in order, and the path to profit names causes, not hopes.
Q3 · Market · 50–200 words“What is the size and growth of your market opportunity? Who is your target customer and how do you reach and grow your customer base?”
- 1
Size the part of the market you can reach, and show where the number comes from.
- 2
Name the customer, then the channels that bring her in, with a result for each.
Show the made-up example 151 words
“I count our market from the ground up. The 14 apprenticeship programs we supply enroll about 900 women a year, and each new apprentice needs a starter kit worth about $400. That is $360,000 a year from programs we already know, before any repeat orders, and every one of them enrolled more women this year than last. The 60 programs on our target list enroll about 4,000 women a year, a $1.6 million kit market.
We serve two customers: the tradeswoman, usually 20 to 40, who buys for herself and replaces her boots every year or so; and the coordinator or contractor who buys kits for a whole class or crew.
Women find us through each other. Short videos of real tradeswomen on job sites bring in most new online buyers, and one in three arrives with a coworker’s referral code. Seven of our 14 programs came from another coordinator’s recommendation.”
Why it works: the market size is built from the applicant’s own numbers, so a reader can check the arithmetic.
Q4 · Your Competitive Edge · 50–200 words“How do you set yourself apart from competitors in your industry?”
- 1
Name the options your customer has today, and what goes wrong with each.
- 2
Give the reason customers choose you, with proof, and say why it is hard to copy.
Show the made-up example 139 words
“A woman starting in the trades has two usual choices: a men’s boot in a small size, too wide at the heel and too long in the toe, or one of the few women’s styles from the big brands, usually a men’s boot made smaller, in one width.
We started from her foot instead. Our boots are built on lasts shaped from the measurements of 1,400 working women, in sizes 5 to 12 and two widths, and they meet the same safety-toe standard as any men’s work boot. Our coveralls have a drop seat, so she doesn’t have to strip to the waist to use a portable toilet.
The proof is in returns: 6% of orders, down from 14% before our fit guide. Those measurements took three years of fittings at union halls, and no big brand has them.”
Why it works: it names the real alternatives and backs the edge with one number anyone could check.
Q5 · Your Vision · 100–200 words“What is your long-term vision for your business? What are your goals for growth/scale?”
- 1
Describe the business in five to ten years, then put numbers on the steps.
- 2
Name the lasting good it does, in a number you track. Social responsibility is judged.
Show the made-up example 134 words
“In ten years I want us to be the outfitter every woman entering the trades hears about on her first day, from her coordinator or the woman working beside her.
The goals along the way are concrete. Within three years: $1 million in revenue, 60 programs and contractors buying kits, and our own warehouse. Within six: 200 programs in all 50 states, rain gear and gloves added to the line, and about 25 jobs. Every full-time job will pay at least $22 an hour with health coverage, as ours do now.
The impact grows with us. For every 25 pairs of boots we sell, we give a pair to a pre-apprenticeship program for women: 72 pairs last year. Programs tell us gear that fits helps women stay through the first year, when many leave.”
Why it works: each goal has a number and a date, and the impact is something the business already counts.
Q6 · Personal statement · 50–200 words“Tell us about yourself and the why behind your business”
- 1
Start with one real moment, not a list of qualities.
- 2
Connect it to what you know that others don’t, and end with why you still do it.
Show the made-up example 134 words
“In my second year as an apprentice electrician, I fell from a ladder when my boot slipped on the rung. It was a men’s size 7 stuffed with two pairs of socks, the smallest the supply house carried. I broke my wrist and lost eight weeks of pay.
I stayed in the trade twelve years and trained more than thirty women apprentices. Almost every one had a story like mine: blisters, falls, coveralls cut and pinned to fit. Several left in their first year, and gear was part of why.
So I started measuring feet, on weekends at union halls with a tape measure and a notebook. In 2021 I sold the first 200 pairs of boots I designed. I still answer every fit question myself, because I know what a wrong boot costs.”
Why it works: one real moment explains the whole business, and the last line shows passion instead of claiming it.
Q7 · Personal statement · 50–200 words“Share a moment in your entrepreneurial journey when you faced a major challenge or setback. How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience?”
- 1
Pick one setback with real stakes and say exactly what you did.
- 2
End with what you changed for good, not only what you felt.
Show the made-up example 132 words
“In 2023 our only factory closed with two weeks’ notice. It held our boot molds and a paid order of 400 pairs, most already sold on preorder.
I flew out within the week, recovered the molds and about half the finished pairs, and spent ten weeks finding and testing a new factory. Every Friday I emailed each waiting customer an honest update and offered a full refund. About 70% chose to wait.
We were out of stock for three months, yet revenue still grew that year and the next. The lasting change was in how I run the company: we now use two factories, own our molds outright, and keep eight weeks of stock on hand.
I learned that customers forgive a delay if you tell them the truth early and often.”
Why it works: the stakes and the actions are concrete, and the lesson is a change in how the business runs.
Q8 · Personal statement · 50–200 words“Why do you want to be a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow? What do you hope to gain as an entrepreneur? How would you participate in our community?”
- 1
Say why now, and which help you want: advisors, coaching, workshops, the online community, the Founders Circle.
- 2
Say what you would give other Fellows. A skill or network you can share.
Show the made-up example 142 words
“We are about to make the biggest jump in our history, from an online brand to a supplier with year-long contracts and its own inventory. I have never financed $200,000 of stock, hired a head of operations or negotiated a multi-state contract, and I would rather make those decisions with people who have made them before.
I hope to gain advisors who have scaled a physical product, coaching on inventory financing and wholesale pricing, and founders at my stage who will tell me what they wish they had known.
I can give back what I know best. Selling to unions and workforce programs is a closed world to most founders, and I worked inside it for twelve years. I would gladly lead a session on it for other Fellows, and I would be on the monthly calls and at the Founders Circle.”
Why it works: the help it asks for follows from the earlier answers, and it offers something specific back.
The parts of the application that aren’t essays
| Part | What the form asks |
|---|---|
| Video introduction | Required and judged: “In 1–2 minutes, share who you are and what your business does.” |
| Revenue figures | Gross revenue and net income or loss for 2025 and 2026 to date. Make your essays match them. |
| Optional uploads | A business plan, deck or executive summary (PDF), and one to four photos of your product, workplace or customers. No product samples. |
What the Tory Burch Foundation itself says to watch
- Your words must be your own. The terms say “the materials submitted are original and have been created by the applicant.” Treat any draft, ours included, as a starting point and rewrite it in your voice.
- Finish every field. The FAQ says “Incomplete applications are not valid,” and the terms void applications that are “incomplete or inaccurate.”
- One applicant per business. “We only allow one entrepreneur per business to apply,” the FAQ says, so co-founders decide together who applies.
Want all eight answers written from your own details? Start your free draft preview. You see the preview before you pay anything.
What it covers
Eligible expenses
- Any business use of financial resources provided
- Business education and coaching (provided in-kind)
- Networking events and advisory sessions (provided in-kind)
Ineligible expenses
- Personal expenses
- Non-profit organizations
- Businesses not majority women-owned
How to apply
-
1
Review eligibility and program fit
Confirm $75K+ annual revenue, 51%+ woman ownership, US residency, and age 21+. The program is selective — assess your narrative before applying.
~1 hrs
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2
Complete online application
Submit business overview, founder bio, revenue documentation, and essay responses about your business challenges and growth vision.
~4 hrs
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3
Record the video introduction
A 1–2 minute video on who you are and what your business does. The terms list the video introduction among the three things the committee judges.
~2 hrs
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4
Await selection announcement
Fellows for the cohort are announced in May of the year following application.
The $75K revenue floor is firm — this is for established women founders, not startups. Peer network (hundreds of alumni) is the primary long-term value over any cash component.
Deadline & timing
The 2027 cohort application is open and closes November 17, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET (checked on the application portal October 22, 2026). The review runs through winter, and Fellows are announced in May 2027.
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